Computer systems are currently in wide use. Some such computer systems include multi-tenant systems, and multi-instance systems.
In a multi-tenant system, a plurality of different client organizations (or tenants) can be served by a server that is running software. In some such systems, a single instance of the software is run by the server, and that single instance is used to serve multiple different tenants. In a multi-instance architecture, multiple different software instances serve the multiple different client organizations.
In either architecture, some users can have access to the information for multiple different clients. For instance, it may be that a given user is working with multiple different client organizations, sometimes in different capacities. As an example, in some small to mid-size businesses, a user in such a business may partner with an organization that is outside of his or her own home computing system. A user may thus partner with a customer, a vendor, a contractor, etc.
Therefore, it is common for some users to use information from multiple different clients in order to perform their tasks or jobs. In such cases, a user is normally provided with authentication information for logging onto the different systems that are used by the multiple different clients. This can result in a user experience that is somewhat frustrating.
For instance, in some multi-client environments, a user's access to resources is limited to the specific client that the user is logged onto. Therefore, if a user wishes to obtain access to resources in a different client, the user needs to log off from the existing client, navigate to a new client page and log on again. This can be an especially unpleasant user experience because some enterprise organizations use social communication, through shared conversation spaces, to communicate relevant information. Some such social communication includes site mailboxes, groups, social network communication systems, among others. Each client normally has a conversation store that stores its conversations, and the different conversation stores cannot be easily accessed or shown, side-by-side, within a user's home computing system experience.
Given these types of scenarios, it can be difficult for a given user to keep track of all of the important information that the user wishes to follow. Updates can happen in many different places, on all the different clients that the user is attempting to follow. Such updates can be made through e-mail, through social networking, through document management systems, on calendar or meeting systems, etc. If a user needs to log in to each different client, independently, in order to check all of these resources, it can be difficult to obtain all of the information that the user wishes to have, in order to perform his or her tasks.
Many different types of computer systems currently support groups. That is, a user can join a group, and have access to a plurality of different types of resources for that group. For instance, the group may provide conversation resources that allow a user to be part of various different conversations for the group. The group may provide document management and calendar resources that allow the user to review documents that are relevant to the group and schedule and attend meetings, telephone appointments, or other types of conferences, that are relevant to the group. Similarly, some groups have social network resources that allow a user to use social network communication that is relevant to the group. These are some examples of resources that are available to various different groups.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.